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How Long? A Fishy "Tail"

Objective: SWBAT compare objects by their length and put them in order.

Big Idea:
Before entering first grade, young children need to have a basic understanding of measurement. They do not need to be able to use standard units of measurement, but they must be able to use the basic attributes of length.

Each day we begin our math block with an interactive online calendar followed by counting songs and videos.

Calendar Time:

We do calendar on Starfall every afternoon. This website has free reading and math resources for primary teachers. It also has a “more” option that requires paying a yearly fee. The calendar use is free. A detailed description of Daily Calendar math is included in the resources.

Counting with online sources: Today we did counting practice to reinforce the counting skills. We watched two to three number recognition 0-10 videos (one to two minutes each) because some of my students students were still struggling with identifying numbers correctly in random order. We watched"Shawn the Train" and counted objects with him to refresh our memories on how to count objects to ten and to reinforce one to one counting. Since we have started the second quarter of the school year, we added to today's counting practice: counting to 20 forward and back, counting by tens to 100 and counting to 100by ones to get a jump on our end of the year goals.

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For independent practice, students are asked to continue to draw, measure and compare their fish for the 15 minutes they have to play.

I roam the room and ask questions as they work like, "How do you know where to start measuring?" "How do you know your fish is longer/shorter?," and "Please show me how you measured your fish."

I allow them to personalize the game as long as it doesn't compromise the goal of the activity or cause a behavior problem. One group decides to compete partners against partners as the same table. They begin to compare fish four ways rather than two.They work in quads.

I occasionally ask kids to prove to me how many paper clips long their fish is. It's important that kids understand what they are doing and why so they can have a strong foundation in measurement to build on in first grade where the concept gets more challenging. Having them explain it or "teach" it to me is the best way to get them to do that.

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After we are finished practicing with our partners, we gather back on the rug to discuss our experience and what learning we can share.

I ask the table that played in a quad what they did, how and why. The other kids loved it. One student suggests that we should all have different length fish and we should line up in order of the length of the fish.

Other kids share what they learned about measuring the fish using the paperclips. They share suggestions on how to improve the activity. I take them into consideration and adjust the activity accordingly the next time we play.

I want the kids to know that I take their requests seriously and that their needs and suggestions are important to me.

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Resources

The exit ticket for this activity is the kids identify objects that are longer and shorter. For sets 1,3, 4 and 5 I ask the kids to circle the long object. For sets 2, and 6 I ask them to circle the shorter object. I do not follow the printed directions on the page.

As I collect the papers, I place them in to three different piles:

Meets - no errors

Approaches - one error or two errors

Falls Far below - 3 or more errors

The meets kids continue with the unit as planned and may also receive challenge lessons. The Approaches kids are asked one at a time to explain their thinking. I find that it is often misidentification of objects that causes the problem with these kids. The FFB kids are pulled into a small group and given further instruction.

Big Idea:
Before students can sort objects, they need to know the concepts "same" and "different," which can be tricky in the beginning in kindergarten. This foundational lesson provides concrete opportunities to practice and social learning opportunities.